"I do not know whether my experience is that of
all God’s people; but I am afraid that all the grace that I have got
out of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost
lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows,
and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable. What do I not owe
to the hammer and the anvil, the fire and the file? What do I not
owe to the crucible and the furnace, the bellows that have blown up
the coals, and the hand which has thrust me into the heat?
Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best
book in a minister’s library. We may wisely rejoice in tribulation,
because it worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience
hope; and by that way we are exceedingly enriched, and our faith
grows strong."
- C.H.Spurgeon, The Trial of Your Faith
